November 8, 2010

Ever since my boss talked to me about my attitude, I realized a few things. Firstly, the co-workers who complained about me being grumpy weren’t entirely wrong. Second, I have to remind myself to stay positive or else I allow myself to be overwhelmed. I have to treat every day like it’s going to be a great day – and if I do, then it will be. So, even though I was very upset at first, I realize they were right. I’m thankful for that attitude check. It’s helped me with more than just work. (:

“Not gifted with genius, but honestly holding her experience deep in her heart, she keeps it simple and humane. Not worrying about style, she is herself, she breathes fully, she is alive, and she remembers to write.” ~ Adapted from Nanao Sakaki’s Inch by Inch translation of Issa’s haiku and Natalie Goldberg’s The Wild Mind.

stop

give yourself permission to take a moment to really look at yourself and where you are

clear

create some room for those voices in your head to speak their mind, and then try to hear them

shift

be fearless with change – it might be the best thing you ever did

release

let go those things that are not a reflection of who you want to be and who you really are

embody

be what you were meant to be in all its crazy shapes and guises – why wait?

adore

love who you have been, who you are now and who you are going to be – it’s all you

enrich

August 15, 2010

Now that nursing school has started, my life is extremely busy. I’ve started a fitness regimen in tandem with classes, which hasn’t left me much time for spiritual concerns. With Mabon coming up I’ve been thinking about how I want to celebrate it — it is, after all, my “anniversary”. It’s the first Sabbat I ever celebrated!

I’ve also been thinking about mental clarity, spiritual calm, and success. In addition to the physical stuff I’ve added to my routine, I have to make an effort to keep my spiritual self nourished as well. That’s going to be hard to remember during this time of my life. I’ve made a mojo bag for mental clarity & school success, which I’m feeding weekly with oil. Otherwise I just need to continue with meditation. I’m thinking morning meditation partly while doing my workout would be good. It’s a nice focusing thing.

We’ve talked about cultural diversity and respect in my classes, but I’m sad to say many of my classmates seem to lack basic respect for the beliefs of others. It’s going to be a long ten months.

July 11, 2010

“‘The home is a sacred place where you can communicate with the four elements of the universe: earth, water, air and fire,’ says writer and kitchen mystic Laura Esquivel, author of the luminous novel Like Water for Chocolate. ‘You mix it with your love and emotions to create magic. Through cooking, you raise your spiritual level and balance yourself in a world that is materialistic.’ In a world that is frequently out of kilter, the kitchen is as mystical as a monastery.” ~ Simple Abundance, a Day Book of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach

I have been quiet lately. I’m not doing much, just getting ready for the fall, though I know Lughnassadh is less than a month away! My altar is taken down at the moment because we have to have windows repaired, and I’m on the work schedule for Lughnassadh. I thought I might just celebrate it during the day that day, but I don’t remember what day of the week it is — if it passes me by without any marking it, I’ll be too sad. I’ll figure something out.

June 8, 2010

“Okay, y’all, here’s the thing:

I’m pissed.

No, I’m enraged. I am simply quaking with horror and rage and shock at the oil RIVER spewing into the Gulf. As a person, an American, a consumer…I’m upset. But as a Pagan, I am gone beyond simple upset.

We are killing my deity. Worse, we are making Her kill herself AND Her children. Our greed and consumption and blithe ignorance of the way the world works is causing the death of something ultimately sacred to me.

In my weird, strange, two- and three- and, okay, occasionally four-faced faith, Mother wears many clothes: She hides herself in Earth. She shines like the Moon. And She wears, always, a cloak of the blue flowing around Her.

The Ocean is Mother: the warm, wet place from which we came. The source of our rain, our mist, our wind. The Seas are what make Earth unique in our solar system–perhaps our galaxy. Without the Seas, humans could not be.

How lucky the Christians are, with their god who died for their sins and then got to go to Heaven. Our goddess is dying BECAUSE of our sins, but here is no heaven for Her. We are making a Hell of Her. For Her. It makes me want to wail.

I hate feeling so helpless. I HATE feeling as if there is nothing I can do. I want to punch the BP exec who wants his “life back” square in the kisser. I want to SHAKE the people who try act as if liberals or environmentalists are the bad guys when we say, “Um, hi. THIS is what we’ve been talking about.” I can’t STAND it when politicians posture to figure out which angle is best to reach the largest number of voters.

But, ultimately, this can’t be about my politics or my rage. This must be about my love. I love my planet. I love my Mother. I want to help Her, somehow. I can cut back on driving, I can recycle, I can stop buying plastic. I can do all of these things. But I can’t stop the flow of the oil. I can’t clean up all of those animals. I can’t stop the death.

But I can’t help thinking…maybe…if we all work together…we can heal Her. We can HELP heal Her. We can, at the very least, show Her our love.

The New Moon falls on the 12th this month. This is, perhaps coincidentally, the first evening I will spend on vacation. I will be on my favorite island, surrounded by the cool waters of the Atlantic. I’m planning, once the kidlets are asleep, to make my way down to the beach, down to the waves, and smooth my hands over the water. I will say, “Peace be with you, Mother. Take from me what strength you need to heal yourself and your children.” And I will send as much love and light and peace back into Her as I can.

Will you join me? Will you find your way to the water, even if it’s a bowl of tap water from your kitchen? Will you help me send love and light and peace and STRENGTH back to our Mother as we try to help Her heal herself?

Let me know. Maybe we can make this a movement. Maybe we can turn the tide of consumption and greed and ignorance. Maybe…”

June 3, 2010

“So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, & demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long & its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people & grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food & for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one & no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools & robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep & pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song & die like a hero going home.” — Tecumseh

April 30, 2010

Check out this beautiful post about Walpurgisnacht — the night before Beltane — here at New World Witchery. Cory’s blog is wonderful, focusing on American or “New World” specific traditions and the blending of traditions that takes place here. I highly recommend it!

April 22, 2010

A few days ago, I was talking with a friend about the state of the world, the state of many of my friends and loved ones, the state of my family and many other families….and all that mess.

She said that in talking with Reiki folks and others of similar ilk, it seems some kind of darkness in the world is beginning to shatter into shards, and that we all seem to be waiting….and that the best thing any or all of us can do is to manifest as much light and healing as possible, as often as possible. To that end, I’ve been working on daily meditations that tap into the power I know I have, manifesting it as an energy that turns away negative/dark/etc.

AND….I also thought it would be good to take a page from those Transcendental Meditationists of long ago and see if we can really give this thing a boost.

So I am calling all my friends, and their friends, and anyone else who care to join us, to join me at 4pm US Pacific timezone, next Sunday, April 25th, to spend 10-15 minutes in a concerted meditation/ ritual/ prayer/ energy-working/ as-you-will. The goal is to bring healing, love and peace for all of our loved ones (and the world).

Please feel free to signal-boost….the more people we have, the more love and healing there will be. Thank you.

April 3, 2010

This morning — well, morning for me — I am reading this interview with Alice Walker. It is, quite simply, amazing. I am going to post some pertinent quotes here, while trying not to quote the whole article!

“There is a sense of sinking back, with gratitude, into the vegetation. A call from the soul that wants a quiet so deep, a mental space so clear and empty, that I can inhabit it almost solely as spirit. And surely this is part of what aging is for: to prepare us for the slow absorption into the all, which I perceive to be a radiant and positive destination.”

“Whenever I encounter people who love their olive and fruit trees, their tomatoes, vegetables, and land, the farmer in me joins hands with them. I need no other, more political connection. But this is because of my paganism, no doubt. My belief that nature and we and “God/Goddess” are one and the same. My devotion to this intuitively arrived-at understanding.”

“What many people don’t realize is that the soul can benefit from instruction just as the mind can, and that this instruction is readily available. We just have to look, sometimes vigorously. It is a good thing to have a nourishing church experience every Sunday, for instance, but that is like going to a dinner where only a certain kind of food is likely to appear on the table. The soul may take a nibble, but it’s quite likely that what it really wants isn’t there. Unfettering the soul and letting it roam after its own peculiar nourishment is part of what assures spiritual development. We live in a time rich in all kinds of soul food, not just chops and overcooked greens, but organic produce and pure water, one might say.”

“As long as the world is dominated by racial ideology that places whites above people of color, the angle of vision of the womanist, coming from a culture of color, will be of a deeper, more radical penetration. This is only logical. Generally speaking, for instance, white feminists are dealing with the oppression they receive from white men, while women of color are oppressed by men of color as well as white men, as well as by many white women. But on the joyful side, which we must insist on honoring, the womanist is, like the creator of the word, intent on connecting with the earth and cosmos, with dance and song. With roundness. With thankfulness and joy. Given a fighting chance at living her own life, under oppression that she resists, the womanist has no or few complaints. Her history has been so rough—captured from her home, centuries of enslavement, apartheid, etc.—she honors Harriet Tubman by daily choosing freedom over the fetters of any internalized slavery she might find still lurking within herself. Whatever women’s liberation is called, it is about freedom. This she knows. Having said this, I have no problem being called “feminist” or “womanist.” In coining the term, I was simply trying myself to see more clearly what sets women of color apart in the rainbow that is a world movement of women who’ve had enough of being second- and third-class citizens of the earth. One day, if earth and our species survive, we will again be called sacred and free. Our proper names.”

“Meditation has been a mainstay in my life. It has helped me more than I could have imagined prior to learning how to meditate. I don’t meditate the same way I did earlier in my life, when the pressure to write, to mother, to travel, to be an activist, and to pay the bills was intense. Now I just live more meditatively, and it is very helpful that, understanding my nature and its needs for flourishing, I’ve created retreat spaces that help me keep my sanity and, quite often, my serenity. I discovered Mexico while I was pregnant with my daughter; we went there during my second trimester. I loved it and have gone there to rest in the sweetness of the Mexican people, in the kindness and courtesy of friends, every year for over twenty-five years. I also fell in love years ago with a Hawaiian musician who had the most delightful house on a beach in Molokai. The relationship ended, but we share the house still. I can go there when I’m dragging in spirit and sit and look at the moonlight on the water until I know all is well. That whether this small being is at peace or not, the tides will still do their thing: rise and fall and bring some boats to shore and refuse to let others land. With a complete and splendid indifference.”

March 31, 2010

As I am teaching — or working with, as I would rather call it — my sister, we have decided that the best way for us to do exercises and meditations found in books would be for me to make a video guided version, that we can listen to together during our weekly sessions. I will probably post those meditations and so on here when I make them; I have been thinking of doing videos on spellwork and such due to how many questions I have received about it in the past. I also think having to distill my thoughts and processes into that form would be good for my mind, as well.

For next week we are going to do the Tree of Life meditation, found in Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance. I will probably put the camera on a candle or some other thing that isn’t my physical self when reading these meditations, but we will see. I have never made videos of myself! so this will be something new.